So I've used the BMPCC 4k in the field on a corporate shoot and ran into some issues.

-The camera turned off several times during the shoot. -The camera had trouble with the Samsung T5 SSD drives. 7 out of 10 times it didn't recognise the drives. We've used several cables and drives but that didn't't help.-Several fully charged batteries dropped dead within 10 minutes. We've used batteries from several brand. That didn't seem to make a difference.

We had to rent a backup camera just in case. So as of now the camera is not yet there to be used on a professional shoot.

Me thinks I smell a “troll”! Or the OP didn’t fully test his “new” camera before using it on a paid shoot. Most of these issues would have become evident. Also, he must not have used the BM battery after fully charging it, because it does give 50 min of recording, and should run the T5 drive and camera for at least 30-min, based on other valid review tests we have seen so far.Cheers

Well, joost horrevorts is a real person with a Vimeo account. Not sure if it’s the same person...

“Not ready for commercial shoots” is completely off base since many are using the camera. Now that doesn’t mean something isn’t wrong with this unit, or it’s related to accessories or configuration. Some additional details are needed (exact specs of drive, cable and power) and maybe some photos would help.

I’m receiving my 4K on Tuesday and plan on using it for a shoot on Friday. But that means I’ll be testing it extensively over Wednesday and Thursday. No matter what camera or accessory, you need to test everything before putting it into a paid shoot.

I can corroborate the Samsung T5 SSD behavior. My copy of the camera will often not recognize the T5 SSD plugged in via USB-C. It also won't recognize an SD card when turned on. Unplugging and replugging, as well as ejecting and reinserting, does nothing.

On reboot, if it chooses to recognize the SD card, I can then plug in the T5 SSD. It occupies the same slot as the SD card, so I can eject the card and use the T5 SSD. That's as close to a pattern as I can see, and I have contacted support.

On the T5 SSD, could be a USB cable issue, not al, of them are actually Gen 2, or work correctly with Gen 2, and can not sustain the higher data rates, and will revert back to Gen 1 data rate speeds, which would explain the odd behavior. Just a thought... Cheers

I love how you guys immediately jump to calling this guy a troll instead of assuming he's had a defective unit. And of course he tried different cables, Denny, he mentions doing so in his original post. You guys can really circle the wagons sometimes. At least Rick showed a normal, human response to this. He's also right: contacting BMD customer support is your best bet here because that sounds like abnormal behavior to me.

joostosan wrote:So I've used the BMPCC 4k in the field on a corporate shoot and ran into some issues.

-The camera turned off several times during the shoot. -The camera had trouble with the Samsung T5 SSD drives. 7 out of 10 times it didn't recognise the drives. We've used several cables and drives but that didn't't help.-Several fully charged batteries dropped dead within 10 minutes. We've used batteries from several brand. That didn't seem to make a difference.

We had to rent a backup camera just in case. So as of now the camera is not yet there to be used on a professional shoot.

What are your experiences so far?

Joost, one word of advice out from years of experience:Never ever go to a paid job with essential equipment which hasn't been tested by yourself thoroughly for days or weeks. Don't assume anything - test it beforehand. Especially third party batteries and a new camera.

Before I rely on a tool I normally do several weeks of intensive testing and practicing. That is professional.

Having said that, I had my PCC4k on a professional shoot as a side camera and it worked flawlessly. But I did not rely on an external SSD and cables but used SD cards from SanDisk and batteries from Canon.All genuine Canon LP-E6Ns I had used worked flawlessly down to when a few percent of power were left and I swapped them out for a fresh one.

The PCC4k draws a lot more power than your average DSLR and cheap third party batteries might not be able to get along with that. So when the camera draws 2.5 A or even more, those batteries just shut off.For comparison the Canon 5D MKIV in video mode draws around 1.2 A - only half of the current of the PCC4k.

And an external SSD like the Samsung T5 also adds 3.4 W when active to the power draw. The camera has to convert the 7.2 V down to 5 V for the USB-C (which adds to some losses).

So when recording to the T5 your total current draw is ~2.8 A which is a lot for that kind of battery.Cheap third party batteries might get away on less demanding cameras but will fail in this scenario.

Robert (or any other electrical engineers here) could you comment on the dual NP-F970 that I had linked to previously which had the batteries in serial to provide 12VDC that I wanted to feed the 2-pin connector? I think that may have had a 3.0 amp limit, but not sure. Would that be an ideal solution?

I had wanted to initially run to the 2-pin connector from my 12VDC D-tap on my Cinegears 250Wh battery, but I’ll need to check the amp limit on that—I think it’s 3 amps but I can’t find anything that specifies the maximum amperage.

EditCinegears battery is 250Wh 14.8VDC 16.75Ah.Heuristically, the Cinegears can power my Mini 4.6K (all manual but includes 48V phantom power to my mic) about 5 hours. 16.75Ah/5.5h=3A draw if the camera consumes 45W. If the camera consumed 55W, I’d get about 4.5 hours with a draw of about 3.8 amps.

Denny Smith wrote:On the T5 SSD, could be a USB cable issue, not al, of them are actually Gen 2, or work correctly with Gen 2, and can not sustain the higher data rates, and will revert back to Gen 1 data rate speeds, which would explain the odd behavior. Just a thought... Cheers

Calm down guys... The USB problem is known and bm is completly aware of the behavior. I reported the problem two weeks ago already and the support told me that the development team is working on this issue very hard. First I thought I received a faulty camera but obviously it is a firmware issue.

Maziano wrote:Calm down guys... The USB problem is known and bm is completly aware of the behavior. I reported the problem two weeks ago already and the support told me that the development team is working on this issue very hard. First I thought I received a faulty camera but obviously it is a firmware issue.

When you say it's not a hardware issue it's a firmware issue then it's still something that renders the camera unreliable for production shoots. I have the camera and I concur with the OP, this camera needs a few firmware updates under it's belt before you can rely on it as an A cam.

That said if you stick to original batteries, known working media and a passive lens you should be fine.

Jim, that could have just been a “bad” battery. A lot of knock off LPE6 and Nikon batteries have swelling issues when they get too warm from rapid discharge, which the 2AH load of the new Pocket camera can exert.Cheers

Has anyone else noticed any screen burn-in on their Pocket 4K? I just got mine tonight and I noticed when I do the screen swipe up to romove the options I can still see ghosted images of the battery indicator on the top right and the overlay option on the top left. Just curious if I’m the only one?Thanks!

I sent mine back as I thought it was damaged because the screen had a bright white corner on the bottom left. After watching the many BMPCC 4K youtube videos I've noticed that a few of the youtubers have the same thing except they don't seem to mind and some had perfectly clean screens. You can even see it on redshark news review of the camera, I've also attached an image of their screen which was similar to mines except a bit higher:

If this is normal and fine then I wont make a big deal of it as I still love the quality of the images it was just becoming a distraction and I feared I received a faulty camera. So now it looks like I'll have to wait till more come in before I receive my exchange.

brettsmith wrote:Has anyone else noticed any screen burn-in on their Pocket 4K? I just got mine tonight and I noticed when I do the screen swipe up to romove the options I can still see ghosted images of the battery indicator on the top right and the overlay option on the top left. Just curious if I’m the only one?Thanks!

Maziano wrote:Calm down guys... The USB problem is known and bm is completly aware of the behavior. I reported the problem two weeks ago already and the support told me that the development team is working on this issue very hard. First I thought I received a faulty camera but obviously it is a firmware issue.

Yup, this USB mounting issue seems to happen only with the T5. We are looking into it.

Maziano wrote:Calm down guys... The USB problem is known and bm is completly aware of the behavior. I reported the problem two weeks ago already and the support told me that the development team is working on this issue very hard. First I thought I received a faulty camera but obviously it is a firmware issue.

Yup, this USB mounting issue seems to happen only with the T5. We are looking into it.

I have a G-tech r series 1tb ssd that also doesn't mount some of the time. Have to turn it on and off until it does if that happens.

i'm sorry to hear you've run into some issues, I'll do my best to assist you with this.

Regarding your first question about the camera shutting down during your shoot, was this because the batteries you were using were being drained quickly?I would also like to know whether you're able to replicate this behaviour when the camera is powered via the PSU? If you can test this it would be extremely helpful. Can you also please tell me the make and model of the batteries you're using? I would just like to check whether they're suitable fo the Pocket Cinema Camera 4K.

Regarding your Samsung T5 SSDs, can you please confirm what capacity drives you're using? I would just like to check whether the they're on our recommend list. You mentioned that 7 our of 10 times the camera didn't recognise the drives, did you just keep reconnecting the drive until it was detected?Can you also please confirm whether you can replicate this behaviour when the camera is powered by the PSU?

Regarding the batteries running out in 10 minutes, is this related to the first behaviour you mentioned? Please can you tell me the make and model of batteries you've tested with? I'd also like to know how you're charging the batteries? It sounds like the batteries might not be fully charged, can you please confirm how your checking the charge levels of the batteries?

Kind RegardsChris RobisonTechnical Support Consultant EMEA

----- End of message -----

When testing with the PSU i had no problem with the Samsung T5's at all.

So hopefully it's just a battery issue as Chris stated. Batteries i've used are Canon's, Hahnels, Jupio's and Blackmagic's.

Kylie Smith wrote:I sent mine back as I thought it was damaged because the screen had a bright white corner on the bottom left. After watching the many BMPCC 4K youtube videos I've noticed that a few of the youtubers have the same thing except they don't seem to mind and some had perfectly clean screens. You can even see it on redshark news review of the camera, I've also attached an image of their screen which was similar to mines except a bit higher:

If this is normal and fine then I wont make a big deal of it as I still love the quality of the images it was just becoming a distraction and I feared I received a faulty camera. So now it looks like I'll have to wait till more come in before I receive my exchange.

Hi, this is now my second attempt at my first post on this site as my previous post deleted itself. This one will be more brief.

I have had similar issues with my Samsung 500gb t5. Long and short is I think it might be the cables as I cannot plug the camera into my computers (windows) and update with the Samsung cables. I get an error that says the computer cannot recognize the cables when the camera is on, but it does work with the SSD plugged into the computer.

I am getting a new cable this weekend to try it out.

Is anybody what having trouble connecting this camera to their windows computer? If not, what cables are you using?

Welcome aboard Duane, it takes a day or two for your first few posts to actually get posted to the board, so give it time.

As for cables, they have been thenissue with high bandwidth devices in the past. Not all USB cables, including USB C are hight bandwidth, as cell phones use similar cables, but do not require the higher bandwidth, the video cameras and their fast hard drives do. Samsung is going to shop as cheap a cable as possible for use with co others, their intended sue for the drives, not for camera, high data-rate use.Cheers

Thanks Denny, I think you're right here. If I can get the new cable to work, which I made sure was a higher end, high data rate cable, I will make a video about this so that people do not return their devices or inundate bmd with this problem. Because this camera is so inexpensive and many of the user base will be coming from cameras that don't require connecting to the computer for updates, they may be shocked to find things don't work right. I am hoping my experiment pays dividends here as I have no desire at all to send my camera in for repair for this weird issue.

Regarding the behaviour you reported with the detection of your Samsung T5 drives, I believe this is something our development team are aware of, this should be improved in a future firmware update.

You also mentioned that you're experiencing frame drops, I believe this is because your Samsung drives are only rated up to RAW 3:1, the data rate of RAW 1:1 is likely too much for the Samsung drives to cope with. You can view the storage compatibility list here - https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/uk/support/faq/59025

FWIW — Today I ran some tests on the 4K pocket over at Hot Rod Cameras (I would highly recommend to anyone in Los Angeles to consider buying gear from them, they are the best retailer around). I connected a Samsung T5 500Gb and recorded a bunch of footage at 4k in 3:1 raw without any issues. The drive remained connected and did quite well.

I had the camera set to stop if it dropped frames, but the recording kept going as smoothly as expected.

All in all, I feel that the T5 is not a problem, although in all fairness the camera was hooked up to a power supply at all times during my tests.

Well they’re having me send mine back for the image retention on the screen I had to send my URSA Mini 4.6k back originally too, but after that it was great. Hope the same thing happens this time. It’s hard after waiting so long to have to send it back so soon...Blackmagic support has always been great to work with too, so thankful for that anyway!

The original poster is not a troll as I just had similar issues. I received my BMPCC4K a few weeks back (ordered it about 1 minute after their announcement from BHPhoto) so probably have one of the very first models but just got to testing it this morning.

I was using a Promaster 7.2v 1800amp battery with a Samsung T5 500gb ssd and was in the 24p 422 ProRes 4K mode and every was fine. When I switched to 60p, the camera shut off. I flipped the on/off switch and it came back on, but as soon I touched any physical button the camera or on the menu, it shut off again. Did this 10 times and couldn't get the camera to work or even switch back to 24p.

Swapped the battery out for one that is 7.4v and 2000amp and now it seems to work. So from this very limited experiment, type of batteries do matter I guess. Just worries me a little as I had quite a few issues with the original BMPCC...

So I tried my new cable and none of my computers can recognize the camera for updates. Looks like this camera is defective.

I read through the email I received from customer support regarding an RMA and correct me if I'm wrong but, am I supposed to pay for shipping to repair my defective camera that I just bought? That doesn't sound right to me. If that's the case I'll just do a return and exchange with bh and not pay for anything.

That just doesn't seem right that I would have to pay to fix a defective product so please correct me if I'm wrong.

Dune00z wrote:So I tried my new cable and none of my computers can recognize the camera for updates. Looks like this camera is defective.

I read through the email I received from customer support regarding an RMA and correct me if I'm wrong but, am I supposed to pay for shipping to repair my defective camera that I just bought? That doesn't sound right to me. If that's the case I'll just do a return and exchange with bh and not pay for anything.

That just doesn't seem right that I would have to pay to fix a defective product so please correct me if I'm wrong.

My computer couldn’t either, but I just assumed it was because it was new and wasn’t in the software yet or something like that. I sent mine in for a different issue and they paid the shipping. Maybe I should ask them about mine not being recognized too.

Dune00z wrote:My computer couldn’t either, but I just assumed it was because it was new and wasn’t in the software yet or something like that. I sent mine in for a different issue and they paid the shipping. Maybe I should ask them about mine not being recognized too.

I was able to get it to work with Windows 8.1 and a USB1 port, but not USB 3 or USBc on Windows 10 or Windows 8 machines. I think it is a driver issue with newer thumb inputs or firmware issue in camera. I won't be sending mine back after all from where I am sitting if this is the case. Check with them if they can get it to work in USB3 or of it only works in USB 1 ports. I sent them the same information through email. I am sure this is software related.

I have not checked if this issue occurs on Mac computers as I have taken a vow not to buy another Apple product again until they adjust their business model. Long story short, I was forced to update itunes (which I have never used in my life) and various other programs after that in order to even use my expensive imac years ago which obsoleted every program I had and could not revert. Genius bar told me I had to buy a new computer because it would cost over a thousand dollars to "repair it" from the updates I was forced to make. Today they glue in graphics cards and hard drives? Never again!

Similar story for me USB connectivity wise: my new laptop won't see the camera whatever I do, via USB 3.1. 3.2 and USBc/Thunderbolt ports.My old z800 sees it fine through it's native USB 2 ports, it sees nothing via a USB3 card (cheapie combo 2xUSB3 / 2xSATA3 card), it also sees nothing via a USB C card (Orico card).All my computers 'see' the device (windows 10 annoying 'you've plugged something in' noise), although I did try via a USB hub to a USB3.1 port on both my laptop and the z800: not a sausage, not even the windows noise.SSD wise, I noticed it was extremely hit and miss if it mounted (Samsung T5 500Gb), but since I got more worried about having a duff USB port on the camera and being stuck without being able to flash the firmware (and did all the above) it seems quite a lot happier seeing the SSD.Just did a few quick tests- seems to be **** at seeing the SSD if you power it up with it plugged in, much more than if you plug it in once powered on.Power on with SSD connected and SD card in and it sees nothing, even after the SSD is removed (although I just tried again and it worked fine just to make me a liar! Bloody thing seems to have 'moods'!)...

Mark Spink wrote:Similar story for me USB connectivity wise: my new laptop won't see the camera whatever I do, via USB 3.1. 3.2 and USBc/Thunderbolt ports.My old z800 sees it fine through it's native USB 2 ports, it sees nothing via a USB3 card (cheapie combo 2xUSB3 / 2xSATA3 card), it also sees nothing via a USB C card (Orico card).All my computers 'see' the device (windows 10 annoying 'you've plugged something in' noise), although I did try via a USB hub to a USB3.1 port on both my laptop and the z800: not a sausage, not even the windows noise.SSD wise, I noticed it was extremely hit and miss if it mounted (Samsung T5 500Gb), but since I got more worried about having a duff USB port on the camera and being stuck without being able to flash the firmware (and did all the above) it seems quite a lot happier seeing the SSD.Just did a few quick tests- seems to be **** at seeing the SSD if you power it up with it plugged in, much more than if you plug it in once powered on.Power on with SSD connected and SD card in and it sees nothing, even after the SSD is removed (although I just tried again and it worked fine just to make me a liar! Bloody thing seems to have 'moods'!)...

The camera will only be recognised by the BMD camera utility app to update or downgrade it's firmware, you can't offload cards via the camera, you need to use a card reader.

IMO this camera shouldn't be used with its built-in battery if any accessories are attached that use camera power like an SSD or phantom mic. I believe that the LP-E6 battery is not sufficient to run the camera, much less anything connected to it. I'm not sure if its the lack of voltage or current that's doing it, but the camera is a 12-20V device with a 7.4V battery? Weird things happen to electronics that are starved for power, and running at 12V might help. I have tons of Sony L's here so my solution was to use a dual L regulated thing that gives me a solid 12V all the way to dead. So far not a single issue. A 14.8V V-mount would be even better.

I hope this post helps someone out there because having your camera turn off halfway through a shoot or loosing footage is devastating. In my experience this camera is very reliable when supplied with the recommended voltage stated in its specification.